SpeedySpidey

Since you’re thinking about it, would you mind posting the numbers to buy it back?

slilley

I'd take the car to another shop that has a good reputation for high-end repairs, and get them to estimate (a) if it could be repaired, and (b) what it would cost to repair it. (Based on the pics, I can't imagine it would be more than $10K, but I've got absolutely no experience in body repairs...so who knows.) Then consider buying it back from the insurance company. Take lots of pictures of the before and after repaired areas, just to have them. Continue to enjoy the car!

Feels like damage like this would occur all the time in racing, so I don't buy that it can't be repaired at a somewhat reasonable cost. Either way, please let us know how it goes!

FreshDriver

Porsche never ever would repair a broken part, they always will take the route of replacing the complete part.
in this case for them, changing the involved parts does not make sense vs the cost of a new car
But maybe is highly possible the part may be repaired at fraction of the cost, go to a good car rebuilder or aftermarket race car builder, may be your GT4 could be repaired but still keeping safe to drive.

sin911

The biggest concern appears to be the first picture. Is the part you marked like a plate that is welded on to the chassis? It's quite hard to tell as it appears to be very close up photos. Frunk can be fixed, and subframe can be replaced.

You possibly could buy the car back from insurance to turn it into a track car and since it will be titled as 'salvage' you can drive it hard without being so worried about any incidents. But depending on the severity of the damage track use will put more stress on the chassis and the pre-existing damage too.

Buying back and parting out is another option as mentioned, but would depend on what options came on the car. If you have PCCB's, LWBS and if the engine and transmission are in good condition post-incident then you may be able to make some dough on top.

Axis

This is just my personal opinion as a random idiot on the internet, ymmv. I would have insurance replace the cracked cast aluminum section in the frunk by the book, since the replacement is available and its not easily fixable by any other means. The first pic which shows a hole in the floorpan/center tunnel section. That whole area is just aluminum sheetmetal and the hole doesn't seem that big and isn't near any load bearing elements or mounting points. See if you can find another shop that has experience working on aluminum-bonded cars and see if they flatten any metal thats pushed up through the hole and just weld or patch it closed and call it a day. Or like some people suggested, if you have the means to get another allocation easily just take the money and get another car depending on your ocd levels.

Zhao

3 things.

1) I'm not sure what makes you think you can put this thing back on the road. Some states are more loosey goosey than others but there are generally 3 titles that get worded differently depending on the location: clean, salvage, and irreparable. Unless there is a clerical error at your insurance company with what the certified shop reported to your insurance company this thing should be flagged as irreparable. If total lossed for 'Non reparable structural damage as per the manufacturer' doesn't flag a car as irreparable in your state I don't know what would.

2) Don't cherry pick info that fits what you want to do. Plenty of people said not to do it. Take my advice and go talk to the Porsche shop that wrote it off of why it's not repairable and they can educate you on aluminum and why it's deemed not repairable. Those that are saying to buy it back and fix it quite frankly don't know wtf they're talking about as far as I am concerned. You don't have to believe me, go to the body shop and ask them to educate you on why you can't just fix the aluminum.

3) The only way this car is going back on the road is through fraud as far as I am concerned. A fraudulent repair, or inspection, or both. No certified shop is going to fix this, no half decent shop is going to fix this. You're going to need a sketchy shop or backalley guy to go against procedures improperly repair that damage and then hide that it was improperly repaired, and/or then get a fraudulent inspection done to recertify it as repaired properly so the title can be changed to rebuilt.

And if you do that and your goal with this car is anything other than to drive this thing forever and then crush it before you die or maybe turn it into a dedicated race car, FU in advance. Do you have any idea of the nightmare someone is going to have when your half assed repaired car ends up at a Porsche shop where it's vin was flagged for irreparable damage? You may think, oh, I'll disclose that to the next guy..... but will HE disclose it to the next guy?

Axis

Reminds of this situation with this guy's corvette. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...l-section.html. Might be deemed irrepairable because Porsche simply doesn't provide the floorpan/center tunnel as a part, and doesn't support any repair short of complete replacement for liability purposes. Like the poster above me said, check with the shop that made the judgement call and ask for an explanation into their reasoning and see what they say.

SpeedySpidey

I would call/email Rick DeMan @DeMan Motorsport and get his opinion…
This was behind my thought with knowing what the buyback cost was.
I’m wondering if you sent it to him for the repair, the 4.5 and the re-gearing *if* it would still leave you with money in your pocket for other goodie’s.
His name and reputation on the repair would be worth it’s weight in gold, IMHO.

chuck v

Porsche El Paso has 2 pre owned GT4. See website for details

PaulE

First of all thankfully neither your wife or anyone else was hurt.

I would look into the cost of a body in white and transferring everything over to it. Probably not feasible for many reasons, including that there are a lot of parts installed on the current car that can't be properly removed and reinstalled on the body in white. The windshield is the first thing like that which comes to mind, but that is a maybe item, probably a lot of folks could get the old one out, but many would break it trying to get it out in one piece. Things like sections of the wiring harness may essentially be married to the unibody and not reusable. Maybe it would be feasible for building a race car.

On the insurance payout side, I would make sure to be adequately compensated, considering current market conditions, adms, and any extra costs like PPF, maintenance plans, extended warranties and tire and wheel protection that can't be cancelled for pro-rated refunds, and of course sales tax and registration fees that will have to be paid again on the new car.

DrainsWalletsFast

Sorry to hear about this as I'm sure you'd rather have just carried on with an intact vehicle, but maybe there's a silver lining. First you need to do the best you can to figure out if this thing is safe to run or not before/after any repairs. You mentioned a race shop that may have experience with these, and that may be a great place to start. The rest beyond that just comes down to math. Make sure you're getting all your money and then some out of the settlement. You may have to hire a pre-loss adjuster to make the insurance company cough up a proper amount, but it will be well worth it. I had to do that when my built 100 Series Land Cruiser got totaled. They didn't budge with the comps I gave them but said yes immediately when the adjuster gave his number. I over doubled the pittance they were trying to give me. The guy's fee was $320 and $200 of that was paid for by the policy itself. So assuming it's safe to run, I'd say get an idea of what kind of payout you can and will get and then what the buyback is. I don't think anyone here will be able to tell you what to do without knowing those numbers. It may be a total slam dunk or it may not be worth it at all. And like another poster said, you could always retain it and part it out as well if it seemed worth the time/money. Does a GT4 suspension bolt up to a GTS 4.0?

Scrounger

I'd buy it and part it out. A new engine is around $40k and a PDK $12k. Headlights $1000 each not to mention wheels and tyres at about $4k. If you have carbon buckets they are around $5k and the list goes on. All it will cot you is the salvage plus your time when you come to take it apart.

sobiloff

I'm told the reason the Porsche approved collision center deems it irreperable is that Porsche won't sell tubs for consumer autos, and that's the only option for "repair" that Porsche offered. I'm also guessing that liability is indeed an issue, but it would also seem cost prohibitive to try and swap all the components from an entire street car from one tub to another. My hope is that a race shop with significant experience running and repairing GT4 Clubsports will be able to evaluate the damage with a different perspective and offer a race-worthy repair with the appropriate techniques, equipment, and materials. I think it's a simple hole in an unstressed portion of the tub, and that it just needs to be closed to prevent water and debris from getting up into the cabin in that location. I've already run two track days and half a dozen autocrosses since the damage, so I'd also guess that we'd start to see any signs of progressive damage at this point. I don't see any in the photos, but of course I'd like a professional eye to evaluate it in person.

I'm fortunate to have a good friend who is an automotive insurance investigator who has provided great guidance on how to handle the insurance aspects, including the likely need to get an independent adjuster to ensure I get the full value for the vehicle. Apparently there are others who specialize in valuing totaled vehicles who can help keep my buy-back price as low as possible as well. If the spread between those two numbers is great enough, then this situation might work out OK.

Before the chassis damage was discovered, the estimate to repair was $10–12K. That included the new frunk and all new underbody panels. No painting is required, only the application of underbody coating to the new pieces (and the touch-up of a couple scrapes) to match the rest of the underbody.

Zhao

Cracks in aluminum grow over time. That little hole in your floor over 15 or 30 years could develop from micron level cracks around the edge of the hole to crossing the entire panel. Aluminum cracks also grow exponentially not consistently so for 14 or 29 or whatever of those years there could seem like there is no problem... until the last year the entire panel cracks across itself. In aviation hundreds and hundreds of people have died because of people not following aluminum repair procedures. Porsche procedures with aluminum repairs are usually what they are for good reasons.

For those helping OP i'd stop. OP is giving off strong vibes he only cares about himself and doesn't give a damn about any of you. For all you know 30 years from now your kid or grandkid is going to buy this going oh cool, my dad/granddad had one of those, I'd love to buy one myself... and then ends up buying this specific car and then ends up being out the cost of the car when someone at a Porsche shop (probably the first time they order parts by vin) puts 2 and 2 together and investigates how a car Porsche flagged as irreparable is on the road. Or worse, end up dead in a horrible accident because the floor structure sheared itself after a crack from 30 year old damage turned into a major problem and significantly compromised the car's safety or drivability.

Lucifer